Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Most of the time, when I go to sleep, I don't remember if I dream or not. And if I do dream, I tend to forget what I dreamt about within the first few minutes after waking up. However, there are some dreams I do remember, and they range from the bizarre to the down right sad.

I had some strange dreams when I was younger. I once dreamt that my family was riding on the expressway in our car at the time and I opened the door. Nothing bad happened but I just had some weird urge to open the door. Not too long after I saw the film Arachnophobia, I had a dream that the film was being presented...by Daffy Duck. The strangeness didn't end in childhood, though. Just recently, I had a dream that I was watching The Simpsons and saw that Macauley Culkin wrote the episode...and that it was funny.

Some of my dreams hit a little close to home. I once dreamed that my Grandmother Ella had died. I actually woke up with tears in my eyes. That one really creeped me out. Fortunately, the dream wasn't a sign that anything bad happened to her. When I found out from my dad about her, she was okay. In two separate instances, I dreamt that I went to sleep and was dreaming but I couldn't wake up. Each of the times I had this dream, I had had trouble getting to sleep before that night. I also once had a nightmare involving snakes, even though I'm not really afraid of them. My dad later told me that he had also had a nightmare involving snakes when he was younger.

When I doze off, I usually start dreaming right away and I realize this. These particular dreams are usually beyond strange. I dreamt in full color as I saw various colors of numbers scrolling in weird ways across a black background. When I dozed off while studying, I saw the same area I was looking at...except things started disappearing. When I realize I'm in these "dozing off" dreams, I try (and usually succeed) to wake myself up out of them. I like to be only somewhat aware that I am dreaming. When I consciously realize I'm dreaming, my first reaction is to wake up and try again.

However, I did actually engage in lucid dreaming once. I went to sleep, realized I was in a dream and decided on what to dream about. I don't remember exactly what I dreamt about, but I do remember that I wanted to see how much time had actually passed after doing about four dreams in a row. I woke myself up and looked at the alarm clock to see that only 10 minutes had passed.